The present invention relates to a document buffer and more particularly to an apparatus for buffering transport of documents coated with a liquid ink.
For increasing the throughput of mailing machines, it is important to provide means for buffering transport of inked documents exiting a liquid ink printer, such as an ink jet printer, so that the ink is relatively dry upon the document and will not smear. This presents a problem of storing the documents during the drying period without leading to stoppages in the operation of the transport and in turn halting operation of the entire mailing system. Heretofore, it has been, the practice to extend the path of travel for documents to enable sufficient drying time prior to further manipulation of the document. Machines for drying articles, such as printed material, have often consisted of a long, substantially horizontal, conveyor belt on which articles to be dried are placed. A disadvantage of this type of machine is that, since they are longitudinally oriented, extending the path utilizes valuable space and consumes much time.